


Cataclysmic Consequences

by cosmicoyote



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cataclysm | Cat Miraculous Superpower, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmare trauma, Nightmares about a character death, Post-NYC special, but she's actually fine, so in between s3 and s4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28173786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicoyote/pseuds/cosmicoyote
Summary: After retuning home from the emotional roller coaster disaster that was New York City, Adrien Agreste is looking forward to returning to his everyday routine in Paris. He went through a lot in just that short couple of days in the States, but it seems his subconscious isn't ready to let him forget one of the most terrifying moments of his life - when his powers snuffed out Uncanny Valley. Though she was quickly revived, Adrien can't help but think of what would have happened had the sweet android not put herself in between himself and Ladybug.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	Cataclysmic Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> This poor kid can't catch a break, but I know the show isn't exactly great at following up what these poor _children_ go through with having their powers and trying their hardest to use them only for good and not make major mistakes. (Chat Blanc and Desperada for example.)

Another day. Another akuma vanquished.

Chat Noir grinned broadly at his partner, who gave him her own radiant smile as they gave the shell-shocked and recently saved akuma victim their space.

The poor man had been melting cars down and adding the parts to his metallic body. After a clever lucky charm from Ladybug and a swift cataclysm from him, they had purified the dark butterfly. 

As always, their teamwork was in sync, and Paris was saved.

"Good job today, Kitty," she said warmly, her blue eyes twinkling with happiness as she looked up at him.

News cameras were rushing towards them, but Chat didn't care. He only had eyes for his lady.

"We're a team," he said humbly even as his ego was thoroughly stroked by her words. They coordinated together and fought together to protect the city that they loved.

He couldn't imagine being happier with anyone else.

The reporters were mere meters away, closing in on them, so Chat expected Ladybug to wave goodbye and be on her way. However, instead of saying a farewell to him, she gave him an oddly flirty look that had his heart galloping into his throat.

Ladybug had never looked at him like _that_ before.

"Hey, can we talk?" she asked as she used her yo-yo to swing upward towards the rooftops and he vaulted up on his baton. 

His face felt warm. "S-Sure, LB," he stammered, suddenly feeling like his heart was rebounding against his Adam's apple like a kangaroo on a sugar rush.

They ended up stopping on their favorite meeting place: The Eiffel Tower. Ladybug paused as she clipped her yo-yo around her waist, her fingers thoughtfully drumming against the smooth surface. She was deep and thought, and even though he was anxious to hear what she had to say, Chat remained silent and watchful.

He slowly returned his baton to the small of his back and watched his partner ponder for what felt like ages before she turned her bright eyes onto him.

"I can't keep lying to myself, Kitty," she murmured.

His back stiffened. What did she mean? And was it just a trick of the spotlights aimed at the tower, or was she blushing?

She dropped her eyes and rubbed her arm shyly like she always did when she was nervous.

Before he could ask, she kept going, "I put this one boy on a pedestal for so long, I was blind to who was… who was truly caring about me; supporting me; l-loving me…" 

Ladybug looked up at him again, and he thought his heart just about stopped. "It's… it's you, Chat. I love _you_."

If he was functioning properly, he would've melted at her words. All he could do was stare as his heart struggled to restart. Had he been knocked silly by the akuma? This had to be-

Ladybug walked up to him and hesitantly took hold of his hands. He was numb and on fire at the same time from her touch alone.

She was rubbing her thumbs over the back of his hands, but he barely felt it. "M'lady…" he croaked for the first time in… a while. He hadn't called her that as much since Miracle Queen when he had started feeling a little different about Kagami…

"I love you, Chat Noir," she murmured, standing on her toes, her lips moving towards his with her eyes closing.

His heart had not only been revived but was now working into overdrive. He could hear it pounding into his ears, effectively making him deaf to the rest of the sounds around him.

He lowered his head to meet her, his own eyes starting to close, when Ladybug's expression went from peaceful and open to puzzled… then downright horrified.

"Ladybug?" he asked nervously. "What's-?"

But she didn't say anything. Her face was impossibly pale to the point her freckles stood out starkly against the milky white tone her skin had taken on - as if the very blood had been drained from her.

"Wh-why?" She asked weakly. "Why would you-?" She swayed, and he caught her.

"What happened!?" Chat demanded, searching her for an injury he might've missed. But that was impossible: they were nearly invulnerable in their suits, and besides, she had released the magical ladybugs to repair damages caused by the akuma.

"You used cataclysm," she croaked. "On… on me."

No… that was impossible! He hadn't summoned his power! There's no way…

Chat Noir stared in horror as the last of the bubbly destructive magic faded from his hand and went into-

"LADYBUG!" 

He jerked his hands away, but it was too late. As he watched, her suit began to wither down to a rusting shade. The bright red looking as if the color was being sapped out of the fabric just as the color faded from her skin. 

"Ladybug, no no no nononono!" he chanted desperately as if his words would keep her from fading into existence. 

It didn't work.

"Chat!" she cried, her fingers crumbling into dust like so many akuma objects that had been subjected to his powers. The dust was blown away, and he watched in horror as Ladybug's eyes leaked tears of pain and terror.

"Chat, help me! Help me PLEASE!' she cried, her chest heaving in panic.

He struggled to hold her up, but she was losing her legs to his accursed power, fading into nothingness before his eyes. 

"No! LADYBUG DON'T-" he choked, his claws digging into her shoulders in a last ditch effort to keep her solid and here with him. 

"Chat…" she whispered weakly. "I'm scared…" a single tear rolled from her eye before the cataclysm enveloped her. For a moment, she resembled a rusted statue with a single drop on her cheek.

Then that part of her, too, corroded away. What had once been her beautiful face that could express love, happiness, sadness, anger, and pain was now dust slipping through his fingers.

He slumped forward, his face in his hands as broken sobs shook his body. 

★・・・・・・★

Adrien Agreste screamed bloody murder as he sat bolt upright in bed, his eyes wide and his heart thundering against his ribs.

He took shaky breaths, his belly rolling like a violently stormy sea. For a moment, he closed his eyes as he struggled to control his breathing, but then his stomach rebelled, and he had no choice but to make a mad dash for his bathroom.

After emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet, Adrien flushed it away then slumped against the cool wall of his bathroom. He ducked his head in between his knees as he sat on the tile. His chest heaved as he fought to not think of Ladybug's terrified screams or her disintegrating form that kept looping through his mind's eye like a terrible song he couldn't get out of his head.

"Kid?" Plagg's voice broke through his misery. 

Adrien hunched his shoulders, peeking up at his kwami with watery eyes, and the destructive cat felt his black heart melt.

"Here." Plagg retrieved a washcloth he must've run under the faucet while Adrien was busy worshipping the porcelain god. 

"Thanks," the shaken teen mumbled as he accepted the cloth and pressed it against his face, sighing with relief as the cold touched his clammy skin.

"Another nightmare?" Plagg asked, though he seemed to already know the answer.

Adrien knew his kwami just wanted him to talk about what he was going through.

The young model sniffed and used the rag to wipe at his face. He didn't say anything for a while, but when Plagg made an angry hissy sound of impatience, Adrien winced and mumbled, "It's different every time…" He frowned, suddenly unsure. "I think it's different every time, but the dream ends the same..." 

The visual memories trickled from his mind like drops of water escaping cupped hands. They were there and gone fairly quickly.

But his partner's horrified screams stayed with him no matter what - burned into his memories like a brand.

"You should talk to Ladybug," Plagg told him firmly. "She'll understand."

Adrien winced. "How could she?" he asked miserably. "Her power is creation. I'm the one who ruins everything!" He gripped his hair in his hands, forehead pressed against his raised knees.

"What happened to Uncanny Valley could've easily happened to Ladybug… or someone else! My power is dangerous." He looked down his ring, gleaming innocently in the lights placed above his bathroom mirror. 

It looked like any other platinum ring: heavy and flashy but also subtle enough to not be seen as a miraculous. The ring looked nothing like it could channel the destructive power of the black cat.

Said black cat was looking droopy and pretty downtrodden - far from the city-leveling powers Adrien knew his friend could reap. The lack of sass showed Adrien just how concerned Plagg was.

Adrien swallowed before murmuring, "Plagg, do you ever… ever fear your powers?" he asked, so softly that his voice barely echoed in the unnecessarily spacious bathroom.

Plagg rubbed his paw over his ear then flew down to perch on his wielder's knee. He was a small but warm presence that helped calm Adrien and even his breathing.

"The thing is, kid, saying I fear my powers is like saying I fear who I am. I am destruction; chaos; annihilation. Without death there cannot be life." 

Plagg calmly licked his paw and rubbed it over his whiskers. Adrien knew he was gathering his thoughts because though Plagg was proud and egotistical, he didn't really groom himself unless he was going to hang out with a certain red kwami with spots.

"You can misuse any of the miraculous," Plagg went on. "Even Ladybug's. Too much creation can throw off the balance of life." He shrugged. "You can create damaging things, and it's difficult to counterbalance when a power is abused." He snorted. "Hawkmoth is a prime example of misusing that power," he growled venomously.

Adrien sniffed. "But with Uncanny…" He winced, remembering the kind android standing frozen, protecting his lady from his own power, then collapsing as his cataclysm destroyed her metal body. 

He whimpered and hid his face again. "If she had been human…"

"But she wasn't," grumbled Plagg. "And to be fully honest, Ladybug could've scolded you after the dangerous battle - not during it." He rolled his eyes. "She's just like Tikki in that way: chewing you out in the heat of the moment instead of after when our lives aren't in danger." There was a fond smile playing on the cat kwami's mouth. The expression warmed Adrien because he knew that, despite his aloof attitude, Plagg loved Tikki.

Adrien sniffed and tossed the rag onto the sink as he stood on shaky legs. "It's still more my fault. I should've waited to use cataclysm." He looked down at his hand as if expecting the ring to pulse with the dark energy that had destroyed Ladybug in his nightmares.

“And Hawkmoth didn’t need to create an akuma in New York, and yet here we are,” Plagg said harshly. “I blame him more than anyone if we’re being frank, here.” He crossed his little arms, looking both fierce but also cute at the same time. Not that Adrien would ever tell him that. 

His tail bushy with irritation, the kwami floated up towards his holder’s face.

"Talk. To. Her!" Plagg growled at him, emphasizing each word with a poke at Adrien's nose with a little black paw. "Your blood curdling screams are interrupting my beauty sleep!"

Adrien gave his kwami a dry look, but Plagg was already floating towards his usual spot on his pillow. 

"Fine," he mumbled as he got back into bed and pulled the blankets back over himself. "I'll talk to her."

"Good." Plagg kneaded the pillow with his paws before spinning once and plopping onto the cushy surface with a huff of satisfaction. "Now… we can rest." He closed his luminous eyes and was soon sound asleep.

But Adrien would not find a peaceful sleep that night. He was too afraid to close his eyes and see the light fading from his partner's eyes; terrified to experience his own powers wipe her off the face of the Earth.

He stared at nothing, forcing himself to stay awake until Nathalie knocked on his bedroom door at 5:30 the next morning.

★・・・・・・★

Adrien considered himself lucky that he had such supportive friends.

As he nodded off in the middle of the day, Nino answered questions for Adrien electronically on his tablet while he napped behind his books. Then Marinette allowed him to copy her notes during study hall.

His heart was feeling lighter as the group of them left school at the end of the day. Sure, it was a blip of happiness in his storm of conflict and trauma, but it was enough to keep him afloat - for a little while.

“What’s going on with you?” Alya asked Adrien as all four of them stood on the train taking them deeper into the city to meet Andre for his famous ice cream. They were all holding onto handles and swaying with the train.

Marinette’s blue eyes watched him with deep concern. “It’s usually me falling asleep in class,” she teased softly. “Long night?”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he had shadows under his eyes because his make up artist had had to spend extra time this morning covering the imperfections. This had costed them time, which Adrien’s father had not been informed about. So, he had dodged a bullet there.

“Um, yeah,” Adrien mumbled, avoiding the worried looks his friends sent his way at his words. “I didn’t sleep much.”

“If ya need to talk, dude…” Nino patted Adrien’s shoulder. “We’re here.”

The girls nodded in agreement, and Adrien felt warmth spread through him. “Thanks,” he murmured. At home, he couldn’t go to anyone for help, but here… his friends had his back.

Just as he was starting to feel more at ease, the train lurched, and something slammed into Adrien’s back - something that squawked like a parrot being stepped on.

He turned and caught Marinette by her elbows. Her blue eyes widened.

“Careful there,” Adrien smiled softly and helped her back to her feet.

Marinette stammered something about her being clumsy and goofy, but Adrien just smiled. “No harm done, Marinette,” he assured her, as his hands parted company with her arms slowly. Her warmth had always been comforting for him, as both himself and Chat. She was such a sweet soul, but he knew she could have a temper when the occasion called for it.

Poor Marinette’s face stayed beet red until they got off at their stop to meet Andre on a quaint bridge that arched over the Seine River.

After Andre fussed that Marinette and Adrien should be sharing an ice cream, they all sat in comfortable silence as they enjoyed their frozen treats.

But not for long.

All too soon, Adrien’s phone was going off and Nathalie’s caller ID flashed across the screen. Already, he was being summoned.

Nino and Alya frowned at the cellphone as if it were its fault Adrien had to leave them, while Marinette just looked really sad. Adrien grimaced in apology as he let Marinette take their ice cream and moved several paces away to take the call he was bidden to answer.

“I don’t get it,” he said as a way of greeting his father’s assistant once he answered the call. “You told me I could have the afternoon off to hang out with my friends.” He glanced back at the group in question. Nino and Alya had their heads together to talk quietly, while Marinette watched him anxiously, the ice cream held untouched in her hand. 

Waiting for him to come back and eat it with her. 

His heart gave a painful squeeze as Nathalie answered curtly, “Plans have changed, Adrien. You have a photoshoot for the upcoming fall collection for Gabriel.”

He hunched his shoulders and glanced back at his friends once more before mumbling, “Can’t it wait? I never get to see my friends. It’s been back-to-back shoots all month!”

Adding this to his nightmare stress was not helpful. It was almost five o’clock now. The shoot, with his luck, was going to last until midnight.

“Your father wants-”

“I don’t care!” Adrien choked out, feeling tears burn the corners of his eyes. “I’m exhausted, Nathalie! Didn’t the make-up artist tell you about the dark circles under my eyes?” Gabriel didn't need to always be in the know, but Nathalie just _knew_ things.

There was a very pregnant pause.

“The what?” Nathalie asked, sounding shocked. Had nobody said anything!? Well, Adrien thought dully, the employees were probably terrified of angering his father by reporting the delays let alone the state of his only son.

Then again, would his father even care? Probably not.

Nathalie, however, sounded concerned and unhappy. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?”

“Fear of my father’s wrath,” Adrien answered dryly.

He thought he heard Nathalie snort, but maybe that was his imagination. Nathalie, to his knowledge, shared the same sense of humor as his father did: nonexistent. 

“Actually,” murmured Nathalie sounding like she was resigned and just as tired as him. She had been looking paler and more worn out lately. “Forget it, Adrien. Go back to your friends. I’ll speak to your father.”

Unable to believe his luck, Adrien smiled broadly until his face hurt. “Thanks, Nathalie!”

“Be home by nine,” Nathalie added.

“Sure thing!” Adrien hung up and hurried back to his friends, his grin still in place.

Marinette looked shocked as Adrien dropped back beside her and enveloped her hand with his. “I can stay,” he told his friends, but his eyes were on the girl he was sharing ice cream with.

Both Alya and Nino cheered, and Marinette’s face lit up in a smile that matched his. She flushed pink when he teasingly fed her ice cream from his spoon, and his heart thrummed happily.

Just for this moment, he could forget his worries and be in the moment with his friends.

★・・・・・・★

“Kid! Hey! Kid, WAKE UP!”

A sharp slap to the face, and Adrien was yanked from the depths of his latest nightmare. This time, an akuma had created a bunch of Ladybug clones, including imitating his Lady’s appearance themselves.

Ladybug had been smart enough to find the main clone and hold them steady while Chat pounced with his cataclysm-

-only to find his gloved hand not touching the cursed object but his partner’s shoulder. Like before, she turned a sickly pale color and began to erode away. And also like before, he couldn’t stop her from disappearing.

From leaving his side...

Plagg’s green eyes were wide with fear and worry as he hovered in front of Adrien’s nose. He couldn’t recall the last time he had seen the normally level-headed kwami so panicked.

His heart slammed against his ribs, and Adrien fought to keep his dinner down and his tears under control. He wanted to break down and cry, but years of being forced to stuff down his emotions made it hard to keep himself under control when bottled up emotions were ready to burst free. When you poked enough holes in a dam, it would burst eventually.

“Kid? Kid!? Adrien!?” Plagg frantically tried to get his chosen to look at him - to focus - to do anything but become entrapped in his nightmare again.

“Transform and find her! NOW!” the cat kwami said forcefully, unsure what else to do short of going to get Tikki and Marinette. Tikki would turn him into a fluffy throw rug if he did that. 

Oh, no. That would be the back-up plan.

Luckily, something stirred in Adrien’s eyes, and he swallowed thickly before murmuring, “Claws out.”

★・・・・・・★

One emotional phone call later, and Chat Noir was perched on the Eiffel Tower, his eyes focused on the dark ground. He kept pinching himself and wincing, making sure he was, indeed, awake and no longer trapped in a terrible dream.

He needed help. He could barely keep his eyes open, and he was longing for a peaceful sleep, but he was scared to. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see Ladybug’s familiar face contorting with agony before she turned into black dust and crumbled before his eyes.

Chat shuddered. What would he do without her? No Ladybug meant he wouldn’t have a reason to fight akuma and enjoy the Parisian rooftops. No more breaks from his stressful civilian life. No more laughing and joking with his best friend.

A life without her would be… so cold and lonely. Even meaningless at this point. She was the sunlight at the end of the darkened tunnel that was his strictly routine schedule. She was his escape from his distant father and heavy responsibilities. 

Losing her would-

“Kitty?”

Chat Noir turned his head as none other than his partner appeared beside him. “Hey, LB,” he murmured. He looked exhausted, and she noticed he wasn’t punning or even flirting. First red flag.

Ladybug frowned and walked over to him slowly, pondering her words. He had sounded scared and exhausted over the phone, but she hadn’t pushed for details as she had chosen to wait until they were face-to-face.

She was a head shorter and had to look up to meet his eyes. She hesitantly held up her gloved hands. When he didn’t object, she cupped his face and peered into his eyes. She couldn’t see around his eyes due to the mask, but what she could see of his face looked pale, and his shoulders were slumped as if he was carrying the weight of the world on them.

A surge of protectiveness stole over Ladybug as she gazed at her defeated-looking partner. Without thinking, she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips gently to his forehead. As she did so, she heard as well as felt Chat sigh and relax under her touch.

Smiling, Ladybug slid her fingers along his jaw to his hair and massaged behind his cat ears. He sighed more deeply and closed his eyes, a soft sputtering in his throat strengthening into a purr as she kneaded away his stresses.

“What’s got you so wound up?” she asked quietly after he had had a moment to center himself. She dropped her hands, and she noticed with some amusement that Chat tried to chase after her touch like he wasn’t ready to part company with her. She half wanted to continue comforting him, but they needed to get to the bottom of this. Her partner was suffering, and she needed to know why.

Chat Noir blinked slowly, looking as if it was an effort to keep his eyes open.

Sleep. He was sleep deprived for some reason. Why?

“I keep… having nightmares,” he mumbled, finally confessing. “Like, really bad ones.” He gripped his elbows and hugged himself, turning away and wrapping his tail around his leg. It looked like a comforting gesture she recognized - self-comfort whenever he was feeling down. She had caught him doing it to either his own leg or… once, he grabbed her wrist with his tail after a hard fight. She had been startled but had taken it in stride.

Then, one other time, when he visited her as Marinette, he had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder. They had been eating some leftovers from her parents’ bakery and casually chatting about cartoons or something. When he had drifted off, she meant to get up to grab a blanket, only to find his belt tail wrapped snugly around her waist.

The discovery had caused her to giggle, which woke him up. He had apologized profusely, his cheeks flushed under his mask. She had told him it was fine while he gripped his tail in his hands tightly. Poor thing.

Now, she reached out and took his belt in her fingers. She felt him flinch, but then she allowed his belt to wrap around her wrist. She smiled encouragingly at him, and he relaxed just a bit more.

“I keep having nightmares about… about my cataclysm… hurting… people.”

The last two words sounded different and hesitant. He was hiding from her.

“It’s me, Chat,” she told him softly. “You can tell me-”

“It’s YOU okay!?” Chat spat out suddenly and loudly, causing her to recoil in surprise. His tail tightened around her wrist as his emotions spiked. “I have nightmares about using my cataclysm on… you.” He started to sniffle, and Ladybug rubbed his back in comforting circles.

“What do you-?” Her insides turned to ice as it clicked. He was traumatized after using his power on Uncanny Valley in New York! That had been over a month ago now. “Uncanny,” she said quietly.

Chat recoiled again and gave her a guilty look. “Yeah…”

“She’s fine, Chat,” Ladybug murmured to him, her hand on his shoulder. “The miraculous restored her and-”

“Only because you were there!” he howled, moving away from her touch. His tail unraveled around her arm as he stalked several paces down the metal beam. “What if she had been a living, flesh and blood person!? Our powers have limits, and I sure as heck didn’t want to test them that way!”

Ladybug could do little more than freeze and stare as Chat unloaded all of his emotions at once. Bottling up for so long had led him to burst at the seams, like an overinflated balloon. 

“Uncanny Valley could’ve been lost forever because of my carelessness!” he went on, pacing along the beams. “The power I wield…” he mumbled. “It… it scares me sometimes.” Might as well lay out all the cards and be an open book.

Ladybug swallowed. “I mean… I would be worried if you weren’t at least a little afraid of your powers.” She touched her earrings self-consciously. “My powers intimidate me, too.”

“You can’t level a street block,” Chat mumbled. He gripped his elbows and hunched his shoulders.

“True,” Ladybug admitted. “But I still create things through Tikki. Messing up…” She shivered. “You’ve seen the disasters I cause when I’m not focused.” She meant Miracle Queen where Master Fu had to sacrifice his memories in order to get them out of a tight corner.

“Plagg said any miraculous can be misused and cause destruction in one form or another,” Chat told her as he leaned against a beam and faced her, though his gaze was burning a hole in the ground between them.

Ladybug smiled a little, remembering the spunky little cat that was her partner’s kwami. “Plagg is very wise,” she said warmly.

Chat actually snorted and rubbed at his ring, a smile tugging at his lips with difficulty. “He would milk that compliment if he were here.”

“He is.” Ladybug smiled cheekily. “They hear and see everything we do - through our eyes and ears."

Chat flattened his cat ears, looking annoyed. At least he wasn’t upset. “That explains a lot, actually.”

Ladybug giggled, and he joined in. It lightened her heart to hear his emotions make a turn for the better. Her sweet kitty was feeling guilt he didn’t need to have. She knew it was an accident, and her being harsh with him that day - that hadn’t helped the situation that ultimately led to Uncanny Valley being destroyed, if only temporarily.

“I… I’m partially to blame for Uncanny,” she told him, her eyes now the ones burning a hole at their feet. “I… was just panicking over Paris. I shouldn’t have said those horrible things to you.” She rubbed her arm, her own guilt now pressing down on her. “And… I should’ve known you would’ve had a good reason for being in New York.”

“The curse of secret identities,” Chat murmured, smiling faintly. “Once we tell each other who we are-”

“I have a feeling we’ll just be strangers to one another,” Ladybug said with a playful smirk that had Chat gaping at her. 

Chat Noir didn’t look convinced as he crossed his arms. “We know each other: likes, dislikes, fears, things like that…” He shrugged. “We just don’t have our true names.” He smirked, his cockiness returning. “Plus, once this mask drops, you’ll be swooning from my good looks, Little Bug.”

Ladybug’s face turned as red as her mask. She puffed up indignantly, looking positively adorable with her short stature. “Pssh! You wish, tomcat!” 

He laughed as she shoved his shoulder. 

“Anyway, don’t beat yourself up, Kitty Cat. We all make mistakes, and I get why what happened with Uncanny upset you to the point you’re having nightmares.” She watched as he blinked, giving her his signature kitten eyes whenever he was upset. “But at the end of the day, we protected the city. Uncanny was fine, and we ended up making some pretty great friends that day.”

Chat nodded then gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry for being such a wimp and calling you so late-”

His words were cut off as Ladybug pulled him into a tight hug. He put his arms around her and placed his chin on top of her head. When she nuzzled into him, the deep rumble that answered told her that her partner was purring again.

“Thanks, Little Bug,” he whispered. “You’re always here for me.”

“Always, Kitty Cat,” she murmured back.

They stayed like that for a while then when they finally parted ways, Chat returned to his room and destransformed, feeling as if poison had been extracted from his system. He could breathe easier, relax his muscles, and burrow into his blankets with a happy sigh.

He heard Plagg flop on the pillow beside his, for once not being a chatterbox for which Adrien was grateful. He closed his eyes and, for the first time in a month, Adrien fell into a pleasant sleep in which he dreamed about going on adventures with the girl who held his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Could not resist the callbacks to past episodes. 
> 
> I hope ya'll enjoyed. I have some fluffier and less sad fics planned.
> 
> Kudos and feedback always appreciated. ♥


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